


The One To Fall

by bigboobedcanuck



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-06 23:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigboobedcanuck/pseuds/bigboobedcanuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duncan was the one who showed up at Veronica's door that night. Logan is MIA. Veronica needs to find him.</p><p>
  <i>“We can only imagine what Logan Echolls is going through,” the newscaster intones in a faux-sympathetic voice.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Veronica flicks the remote and the picture disappears in a hiss of static. She’s imagined more than most people.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One To Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Sarah MacLachlan's "Sweet Surrender". Slightly AU set post-122. 
> 
> I'm posting my old fic from LJ here. Hoping the stories have aged well. :)

She doesn’t see him until a week later, when the bruises Weevil and the boys inflicted have started to turn a sickening yellow. Veronica leans in closer to the TV, tries to look at his eyes as he rushes past the cameras outside the cheap motel he was holed up in. She notices it wasn't the Camelot. 

“We can only imagine what Logan Echolls is going through,” the newscaster intones in a faux-sympathetic voice.

Veronica flicks the remote and the picture disappears in a hiss of static. She’s imagined more than most people.

*

The phone is loud in the stillness of her room, and she picks it up quickly. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey.” She tries not to be disappointed that it’s Duncan’s familiar voice across the line. She fails.

“Did you see Logan on the news?”

“Yeah.”

“He still hasn’t called you?”

“Duncan, he’s not going to call me. I…” Ripped his heart out. Destroyed him. Let him down — damn hard. Tonight she decides door number one is the most accurate. It changes, depending on her mood. 

He sighs. “I thought he would have called me by now. I’m his best friend.” 

“I know.”

“What are you doing? It’s late, but maybe I can come over—”

“No, I’ve got to clean up. My Dad’s coming home tomorrow.”

He can’t hide the note of disappointment in his voice. “Oh. Okay.” 

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. ’Night.” 

Since Duncan showed up at her door that night — she wonders if she will ever have to describe it further, or whether _that night_ will be all the identifier she ever needs — they have spent a lot of time together. It’s been…nice. Duncan is comforting and familiar and a good friend. Maybe more. 

Maybe not.

When she drifts off to sleep, Veronica dreams that she is swimming in the ocean, the waves murky and powerful. Lilly and Logan float nearby on a raft, out of reach. 

*

Her father settles onto the couch and gives Veronica a dark look when she suggests again that he rest in bed. “I’ve been in bed for a week. I’m ready to move up in the world.” 

“Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you end up back in the hospital from all this over-exertion.”

“Don’t worry, honey, I won’t.”

They watch _Judge Judy_ in silence. They’ve barely discussed Lianne, and Veronica isn’t eager to bring up the subject. It didn’t take her long to realize that the cheque was missing, and her father just nodded in resignation when she told him. Wallace’s mom — Alica, her name is Alicia — had put her hand on Veronica’s shoulder later in the hospital hallway and squeezed with just the right amount of pressure. Veronica keeps forgetting to tell Wallace how lucky he is.

“Have you talked to Logan Echolls yet?”

Veronica jolts back to the present. “What?”

Her father watches her carefully. “Logan. You know, the boy you were secretly dating. The boy you can’t stop thinking about.”

“I don’t know where he is.” She turns her attention to the TV. Judy points her finger and yells over a hapless defendant.

“If you really wanted to find him, you would.”

“Dad, of course I want to find him. But he’s hiding—”

“And so are you.”

His eyes are too knowing and she retreats to the kitchen to root around in the fridge, pretending that she would actually cook something.

*

Weevil is on his porch, staring off into space when she gets out of her rental car. The trusty LeBaron was a write-off, and the insurance company takes forever to process claims. 

“Hey, V.”

“Hey.” She sits down on the front steps, smiling faintly.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just thought I’d say hi.”

“Look, if you’re here to yell at me again about Echolls, save your breath.”

“I didn’t yell.”

Weevil raises his eyebrow. “Interesting bit of revisionist history.”

“You could have killed him.”

“Yeah, but instead I probably saved his life.”

“How’s that? By beating him to a pulp?” Her voice raises and she realizes she’s still angry after all.

Weevil seems to contemplate something before speaking again. “I didn’t exactly tell you the whole story. I thought I owed him that much.”

“Spill.” Veronica’s heart begins to beat just a bit faster.

“When we found him on the bridge, he wasn’t in his car. He was up on the railing.”

“What?” She jumps to her feet, adrenalin bursting into her veins. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“Figured it was his story to tell.”

Veronica shakes her head in disgust and is back in her car before Weevil can offer up any further explanation, even though he probably wasn’t going to anyway.

*

The cabin isn’t hard to find once Veronica puts her mind to it. A few credit card checks come up with a new charge at a gas station in the area, and after some more digging, she finds out where the Echolls family used to summer. 

The drive to Lake Tahoe takes almost 10 hours, and the sun is low in the sky as she drives the final miles along the winding road to the cabin. She steps on the gas, eager to arrive before darkness falls. She can’t look in her rearview mirror at night without seeing things she wants to forget.

She parks the car in the long driveway and tries not to get freaked out by the isolation. She knows Logan must have heard the engine, but he doesn’t appear. Maybe he’s asleep, or out for a walk, or dead.

When she finds him sitting on the back porch, looking out at the sun setting over the crystal-blue lake, Veronica wants to cry with relief. Logan doesn’t look at her, just takes a sip of his drink. Probably scotch.

“What took you so long? You’re losing your touch, Mars.”

“Logan—”

“Who’s offering the reward? I bet it’s CNN, those sneaky devils.”

“There’s no reward.”

A flicker of something passes over his face. He turns to look at her, and tears prick Veronica’s eyes once more at the emptiness she sees. “Then why are you here?”

“Because I was worried about you. Because I need to talk to you. Logan, I’m so sorry, you have to believe me.”

His smile is sharp. “It’s okay, Veronica. In the end, you got your man.” He looks back out over the lake at something in the distance, she can’t tell what.

She kneels in front of him, resists reaching out to touch him, even though he’s so close. “Logan, I’m sorry for everything that's happened.” 

“So I guess you suspected him all along, huh? Until you thought it was me.”

“Who? Your father?”

He laughs bitterly. “Who else? That’s why we were together, right? Girl Detective, on the case.” He shakes his head. “None of it was real.”

“What? Logan, no!” She reaches out for him then, tries to take his hands, but he yanks them away. “I had no idea it was your father until I saw him with Lilly on those videotapes.”

He jumps up from his chair, knocking it over backwards. “I can’t wait until they play them in court. But since you’ve already seen them, how about a sneak preview?”

Veronica rises to her feet as he paces restlessly on the deck. “Logan, please—” 

“What positions were they in? Did he make her come? I bet she loved it, from what I’ve read in the tabloids, dear old Dad is quite a stallion in the sack.”

“Stop it. Don’t do this to yourself.”

He laughs again. “It’s all on fucking _tape_ , Veronica, so I might as well know now what he and that lying bitch did.”

“Logan, don’t. Lilly….” She trails off, unsure. Unable to come up with any justification.

“What? Loved me?” He shakes his head, and suddenly the fight seems to drain away as he sags against the railing of the porch. The sun is a ball of orange and pink fire on the horizon and he watches it for a long minute before speaking again. “Whatever part of Lilly that loved me…it was already dead if she could do that. If she could be with him.”

Veronica can’t think of an argument.

“I bet she laughed about it. I bet she thought it was a big game. Stupid, stupid Lilly.”

Veronica remembers Lilly’s devious smile and teasing tone, delight over her delicious secret. Her face flushes. 

Logan looks at her evenly. “I never thought I could hate her.” He smiles again, like he always does. “But I’m willing to try.”

* 

“Dad, I’m fine. Alicia’s staying with you, right?” From the living room, Veronica watches Logan putter around the kitchen as her father lectures her on running off and only leaving a note. “Okay, so I’m totally grounded when I get home. I’ve got to go. I love you, Dad.” She hangs up the phone, knowing that if he really wants to, he can trace the call to the cabin. With no cell service in the middle of nowhere, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“I don't know how to cook, but how hard can frozen pizza be?” he asks as she joins him in the kitchen.

“It wasn’t an act.”

He closes the oven door and starts flattening out the pizza box. “It’s fine, I understand. Don’t worry about it.”

“Logan, I was with you because I wanted to be with you, not because I was trying to find dirt on your father. It was real. And maybe if you’d just been honest with me about your alibi—”

“What? You would have believed me?” He turns and leans back against the kitchen counter. 

“Yeah, maybe I would have. I meant it when I said I trusted you. But then two minutes later I found the cameras and I thought….” 

He winces. “I can imagine what you thought.” 

“Can you blame me?”

“No, I guess I can’t.” He shrugs. “Hey, like father like son. I wouldn’t put it past me.”

“Don’t say that, you’re _nothing_ like him.” 

“Sure I am.”

“No, you’re not. I was never really afraid of you, even when I thought you might have done it.”

“But he scared you.” He takes a few steps towards her. “He didn’t hurt you too badly, did he?”

Veronica swallows, her throat suddenly dry. “I’m fine.”

Concern washes over his face and he reaches for her, his fingers grazing her cheek. “I know what he’s like when he’s angry.”

She nods. “I know you do.”

He looks away, but his fingers trail down her bare arm. “I’m sorry he hurt you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop him.”

“Why were you on the bridge?”

Logan pulls away like he’s been burned. “I needed some air.” 

She reaches out for his hand, forces her fingers between his. “I went to the Kanes’ that night because I wanted to find your letter. Because I wanted you to be innocent.”

He finally nods, and then goes to check the oven.

*

While he cleans up, she wanders around the cabin, which is only rustic in that it is made of wood. She washes her face and looks in the mirror for a long time. She finds him again in the huge master bedroom, lying on the bed in the dark, eyes on the stars visible through the skylight that dominates the ceiling.

She hesitates for what is probably only a few seconds and lies down beside him, a foot of space between them. 

“The sky is so clear up here,” she marvels.

“Which one’s your favourite?”

Veronica doesn’t need to think about it. “Orion.”

“The Hunter.” She hears the smirk in his voice. “I should have known.”

“What about you? What’s yours?”

“I don’t know what it’s really called. I named it after my mom when I was little.” He points up at a cluster of stars Veronica thinks might be Cassiopeia.

It happens suddenly again, and Veronica pulls him into her arms as the tears fall. He clings to her like he did before, but this time there are no bellboys or desk clerks to give them sideways glances. She rubs his back and murmurs meaningless words.

“She didn’t love me enough to stay,” he whispers. His arms loosen around her, a dare. Veronica kisses his forehead as her fingers dig into his skin. 

*

Dawn is still fresh when she stirs, Logan’s head heavy against her chest. She tries to disentangle herself, but his eyes pop open, limbs instantly electric with tension once more. Veronica thinks it must be exhausting to be him.

He rolls away, body rigid. “Sorry.” 

“For what?” 

He just shrugs and waves his hand in the air. For one of the few times she can remember, she can’t think of anything to say, either. So instead of telling him she’s sorry his mother killed herself and that Lilly was who she was and that his father was, too — she kisses him.

Logan’s lips are soft, like she remembers, and his tongue still says things without making a sound. His leg moves between hers, his weight solid, somehow reassuring. When he starts to take her clothes off, he pauses for a few seconds, making her look up into his eyes.

She breathes her answer and pulls his shirt over his head, tasting his skin, tracing the remnants of bruises. He kisses her again before he moves down her body, her clothes sliding away effortlessly, his mouth making easy work of her. When his tongue swipes slowly up her inner thigh, she doesn’t have to think about opening her legs. His breath is hot against her, his mouth hotter, and she digs her fingers into his scalp, moaning in a new way.

She hears the tear of foil and he’s above her, his lips tender on her face as he pushes inside. She can’t help but hold her breath, has to remind herself that it isn’t the first time. Except it is in every way that counts. 

He’s slow and gentle and murmurs encouragement as she starts to move with him. He knows what he’s doing, the rhythm of his hips making her whole body tingle in ways it never has before. She feels small beneath him, and doesn’t mind for once. They rock together for a long time, skin slick and heated, muscles coiled. Veronica says his name, and then he’s kissing her desperately, sweat beading on his forehead before he thrusts one last time.

She feels…good. Not quite as good as she thought she would, but it’s not a bad feeling. Logan kisses her again before he pulls away to get rid of the condom, then he’s back in a flash, with a look of determination. She opens her mouth to ask, but the question is irrelevant when his head dips back between her legs. He makes her come and as they lie together afterwards, entwined in easy silence, Veronica definitely, definitely feels good. 

*

After they wake up for the second time, they eat breakfast and talk about nothing in particular. She can’t stop smiling, and Logan teases her mercilessly until she kisses him into silence. As they catch their breath, he rests their foreheads together and she wonders how long she can stay away before her father sends out the National Guard. 

Later, Logan wants to go swimming, but Veronica tells him she doesn’t have a bathing suit. He rolls his eyes and peels her clothing off, leaving her bra and underwear. She’s strangely unable to protest. 

Clad in his boxers, he leads her down to the dock, the glimmering blue water spreading out before them, mountains rising in the distance. He takes her hand and together they run, flying up through the air and deep into the water, before they finally break the surface.


End file.
